Debate is raging in China over the case of a young Communist Party cadre who was disciplined over a drinking spree two years ago and is now up for promotion.
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State media reports have portrayed Xie Qin, a 38-year-old township party chief in southwestern Yunnan province, as a positive example of rehabilitation.
But the idea is unpopular among the public, with many taking to social media to express frustration at officials like Xie being given a second chance and even “rewarded” for their misconduct.
Xie’s case is not isolated – many officials have been reinstated or promoted after being disciplined in recent years. It is part of an effort by Beijing to incentivise and motivate officials who are “lying flat” – or doing the bare minimum to get by – amid President Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption crusade and an economic downturn.
Xie was one of dozens of officials who went on a bender during a training session in February 2023 at a party school in Jianchuan county, Dali prefecture.
Details of their misconduct were widely publicised in a video released by the provincial graft-buster aiming to send a warning to others. It said the officials had spent four of the five training days indulging in “unauthorised” drinking and banqueting.
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